Herschel Walker: 'Politics' Behind College Football Cancellations

Former college and NFL football star Herschel Walker on Tuesday suggested politics might be behind the cancellation of college sports, including football, in some conferences, including the Big Ten and Pac-12.

"I'm sad because kids need to play," Walker said Tuesday on Fox News' "The Story." "Kids need to play, and this is such a controlled environment that they have to be in. You're going to be with some of the best doctors. Kids are tested, what, twice a week? If they are not playing, and the kids are at home they are in an environment where they can get sick."

The former Georgia Bulldog, Dallas Cowboy, Minnesota Viking, New York Giant, and Philadelphia Eagle said those in charge of making the decisions at colleges do not seem to care about the lives of people "in the country."

"What are you going to do?" he said. "You are going to send them home? Because if school is not in, what are they going to do? Are you gonna destroy these kids and mope around campus and get depressed? They are losing their livelihoods right now."

Fifth-year seniors will not have another chance to get to the pro level, he said.

"And I think that because of politics, because you look at the places that decided not to play, look at the areas where they decided not to play," he began.

"You think it is political?" host Martha MacCallum asked.

"It is sad that we have come to this right here, and that's what hurts," Walker said.

The Big Ten is composed of schools primarily in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. The Pac-12 schools are mostly along the Pacific coast. Other Power Five conferences, including the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference, which are more dominated by conservative voting "red" states, have indicated they are likely to play this fall as scheduled.

Response to the coronavirus has caused political divisions, with many on the right seeing the response overblown or at least hurtful to businesses, with many on the left calling for stricture measures to control the virus, including online schooling.

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